WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Tag Archives: force main

Friday we found the warning sign on the Valdosta Country Club green for the Wednesday force main sewage spill,
thanks to Valdosta Utilities Environmental Manager Scott Fowler,
who told me where it was.
Sara Jay has tested downstream for WWALS, and maybe we can get the Valdosta water quality testing data, as well.
Although there is some ambiguity as to which way downstream is.

After tonight’s Lowndes County Commission Regular Session, I asked Utilities Director Steve Stalvey
whether the county had spilled any sewage this month.
He said yes, Saturday (September 23, 2017), about 25,000 gallons from the force main on Val Tech Road.
He said it was due to Continue reading →

A first for WWALS: an urban cleanup!
One Mile Branch runs
right through the heart of the biggest city in the Suwannee River Basin (Valdosta)
and through the biggest educational institution in the Basin (Valdosta State University).
It has some trash, and you can help WWALS come get it!

Finally ready for prime time and a ribbon cutting:
the new, uphill, out-of-the-floodplain, long-awaited
Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and Force Main,
which have not overflowed or otherwise caused sewage spills in the recent rains,
so maybe Valdosta’s chronic problem smelt downstream all the way to the Gulf
is perhaps finally fixed.
Congratulations, Valdosta!

When: 8AM Tuesday July 12th 2016

Where: At the new WWTP on Wetherington Lane, north off US 84,
west of I-75 exit 16

Invitations: Paper invitations were mailed last week, including
to counties and health departments downstream in Florida,
according to Sementha Mathews.
If you didn’t get one, contact her,
and she says the event is in any case open to the public.

Update 2016-05-30: Sementha Mathews says the paper invitations were mailed Tuesday (day before yesterday),
so they should arrive by the end of the week. Arrived.

The recent rains caused little wastewater overflow, according to
Valdosta City Council Tim Carroll, who forwarded cryptic Valdosta press release yesterday and then explained on the telephone what it meant:
the two biggest pieces of Valdosta’s wastewater and sewer fixes
are operational already.

The press release referred to “the new force main” as if it were already
in operation, yet nothing on Valdosta’s website says it is.
So I called Tim Carroll and he confirmed that yes, the force main is online.
Not only that, but 5 million gallons less water than usual for such rains
entered the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

Wait, does that mean the new, uphill, out-of-the-floodplain WWTP is also online?
Yes, confirmed Carroll.
And the less inflow was due to less INI.

Valdosta seems serious about finally opening its new force main and uphill Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant: they’re scheduling a ribbon cutting for May, a year ahead of the original schedule.
According to both City Council Tim Carroll and Engineering Assistant Director Emily Davenport, the EPA has already pressure-tested the relevant lines and the plant, and approved them.

People downstream are rightly concerned at the many years they’ve endured
wastewater from Valdosta.
And recent schedule slips haven’t helped their perceptions, which is why actually holding Continue reading →

I just want to know when will this be fixed, I can’t even drink my
water for it having ecoli in it. Someone needs to do something
now!!!

The two biggest pieces are scheduled to be finished this summer and next summer:
the force main project in July 2016, and the new Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant relocated uphill by August 2017.
Valdosta is spending upwards of $300 million to fix the problem.

Those schedule changes are mentioned in the most recent Valdosta News.
It does not, however, say which watersheds the various spills affect.
I have added * for Alapaha River watershed and ** for Withlacoochee River watershed.
It’s not that hard, and
Valdosta has a water management plan that spells this all out, with maps.
One Mile Branch** and Two Mile Branch** flow into Sugar Creek**,
which goes into the Withlacoochee River**.
Knights Creek* goes into Mud Creek* which goes into the Alapahoochee* River and then the Alapaha River*, eventually joining the Suwannee River in Florida,
as does the Withlacoochee.
Valdosta Utilities and Public Relations know all that.
But why should every citizen, Continue reading →